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CHARACTER CREATION
pOOLINg BACKgROUNDS
M
embers of a coterie may choose to pool their
individual points of Allies, Contacts, Domain,
Herd, Influence, Resources, and Retainers.
The Anchor
Players in the coterie choose one Background as
the anchor that holds the shared assets together. Any
pooled Backgrounds may serve in this roll, but no
Background pool can have more dots assigned to it
than the Anchor Background does at any time. If the
Anchor Background is damaged by events during play
or between sessions, other assets drift from the charac-
ters’ control, and it takes effort to win them back.
Any contributing character may pull his stake out of
the pool at any time. The dislocation guarantees some dam-
age; the character gets back one less dot than she put in.
Under normal circumstances, a coterie can’t change
its Anchor Background, nor can it acquire a new Anchor
Background. While it may choose to abandon a certain
Background asset over the course of a chronicle (and
thus free itself of the limitations of the pooled Back-
grounds in question), the fact that Backgrounds change
value only as a result of the story’s events means that the
coterie must acquire new Backgrounds in that manner,
rather than through freebie or experience points.
Using Pooled Backgrounds
Pooled Backgrounds are communal property.
Anyone who contributes to the pool, regardless of the
contribution, has equal access to it. Not everyone can
use the pool simultaneously, though. A Herd pool of
seven dots can grant access only to the same, finite
number of vessels. The allocation of those points de-
pends on the circumstances and agreements between
the characters.
Upper Limits
By pooling points, a coterie can get Backgrounds
that surpass the normal five-dot limit. This ar-
rangement is normal and reflects the advantages of
cooperation. There is no upper limit on the level a
Background can rise to, but it’s usually best for the
Storyteller to impose a 10-dot limit. The Storyteller
should take the scaling of Backgrounds into consid-
eration, increasing reliability rather than quantitative
value as the ratings escalate among the coterie. This is
a question of balancing player expectations with ele-
ments of the story, so be sure to set some guidelines for
what the shared Backgrounds actually represent before
the chronicle begins.
••• Comfortable. You are a prominent and established
member of your community, with land and an owned
dwelling. You likely have more tied up in equity
and property than you do in ready coin. You can
maintain a one-dot quality of existence wherever
you are without difficulty, for as long as you choose.
•••• Wealthy. You rarely touch gold, as most of
your assets exist in tangible forms that are
themselves more valuable and stable than coin.
You hold more wealth than many of your local
peers. When earning your Resources doesn’t
enjoy your usual degree of attention, you can
maintain a three-dot existence for up to a year,
and a two-dot existence indefinitely.
••••• Extremely Wealthy. You are the model to which
others strive to achieve, at least in the popular
mind. You have vast and widely distributed assets,
perhaps tied to the fates of nations, each with huge
staffs and connections to every level of society
through a region. You travel with a minimum of
three-dot comforts, more with a little effort.
rETainErs
Retainers are servants, assistants, or loyal and steadfast
companions. Many vampires’ servants are ghouls, ghouled
animals, or people whom you’ve repeatedly Dominated or
completely enthralled. Retainers may be useful, but they’re
never flawless or blindly loyal – if you treat them poorly
without exercising strict control, they may well turn on you.
With Storyteller permission, a player may create a single more
competent Retainer by combining points in this Background.
Players can spend pooled Background points on Retainers.
• One retainer
•• Two retainers
••• Three retainers
•••• Four retainers
••••• Five retainers